Homeless

Chapter Two

Sunita asks why he’s acting like this. Maggie explains that Socrates knows other cats come into the clinic, but the yard is his alone. She’ll run off in a second. The black cat takes two more steps toward Socrates, arching her back to make herself look bigger. Socrates isn’t scared though. His coat is puffed up, too, making him look monstrously huge. He lets out another hiss.

Maggie frowns. This isn’t good. And in a flash, the two cats jump on each other. Socrates lashes out with claws, and chases the female behind the azalea bushes. The bushes shake as the cats growl, hiss, and howl in pain.

Maggie runs to get the hose to stop the fighting. The cats bolt out of the bushes, still chasing each other and fighting. Sunita has never seen Socrates act like this before. The two cats finally separate themselves and stare each other down. Socrates has blood dripping from his cheek and a gash on his hind leg. The female won’t put down her front right paw, and she has a bite on her shoulder. Socrates prepares to pounce again.

Maggie returns with the hose, and she presses the nozzle to spray the angry cats. They both take off down the street like they were shot out of a cannon. Sunita, Maggie, Brenna, and David take off chasing the cats. Zoe stays behind to tell Dr. Mac what happened.

The kids run down the the block, and then around the corner, and through a long alley. Maggie sprints ahead. They race down another alley and come to a gas station. There’s no sign of the cats. A man by a car says the cats ran across the street. Across the gas station is an old, abandoned button factory.

Maggie says Socrates couldn’t have gotten inside, so he probably went home another way. Sunita shakes her head and says she thinks he’s here. They should check behind the building. Behind the building is a loading area that’s overgrown with trees, bushes, and weeds. Sunita is sure Socrates is in there.

It’s slow going. They stay bent over because of the heavy vines and branches that pull at their hair and clothes. It’s like a big maze. Sunita trips over a piece of rusted machinery. It’s like a jungle. David points a slim black tail slipping through the wall of green ahead of them. The tuxedo cat! Socrates must be nearby. They push through faster.

They come across a weathered, broken-down red boxcar on rusted wheels. Sunita says the cats could be inside. Ten feet of broken concrete stretches from the boxcar to the railroad tracks, and the clearing is covered with cats!

The kids crouch down in the weeds to look. There must be thirty of them, chasing each other, sunbathing, sleeping, scratching at fleas, and tiptoeing around broken glass. A few look sleek and powerful, but most are thin, flea-bitten, and desperately need a brushing. But there’s no sign of Socrates.

Maggie says it’s a colony of stray cats. Sunita slowly steps out of the weeks and the cats turn their heads to look at her. Most of them ignore her, but two cats with black-and-white patches come up to her. They’re hungry. Sunita bends down to scratch under their chins. Brenna says they probably don’t have any owners. Sunita wishes she could take them all home.

Suddenly, a loud horn sounds, and the train to Philadelphia whizzes toward them. The cats dash into the tall weeds. It’s so loud as the train passes that nobody can hear what Brenna is trying to say, as she gestures frantically. Leaves and dust swirl into the air. The last train car whooshes by, and it’s quiet again.

Brenna says someone is coming. On the other side of the tracks is a block of small houses, each with a tiny yard surrounded by a low fence. A boy wearing a green backpack walks across one of the yards toward the kids, followed by a little girl carrying a plastic bowl with water. The boy and girl look maybe like a third-grader and first-grader or kindergartener, respectively.

As the little kids cross the tracks and step in to the clearing, the cats reappear like magic, meowing loudly. The kids are regulars. As Sunita comes out to say hello, they startle the kids.